The LG G6 Plus Brings Better Audio and More Storage to the G6

LG combines slight hardware tweaks with a big new software update adding a handful of new features.

Now that the terrific LG G6 has been out for a few months, LG is ready to sell a few handsets to anyone who was holding out for a little more. The LG G6 Plus isn’t a bigger phone despite the name, but it does include some premium features usually only found in LG’s media-centric V line.

The LG G6 Plus is essentially the same as the G6, but with 128 GB of storage and a 32-bit hi-fi quad DAC that makes audio from both the speakers and headphones sound much better. The bad news is that the G6 Plus still sticks with a single mono speaker on the bottom, which won’t take full advantage of that DAC. Instead, they’re relying on personal audio to show what the DAC can do, bundling a pair of B&O Play in-ear headphones with the phone. The G6 model sold in parts of Asia actually did have this DAC, but this would be the first G6 model with the DAC sold in the United States.

LG has also prepared a software update ahead of the G6 Plus release that will apply to both the G6 and the G6 Plus. The update will enable a feature called Face Print, which can be used to unlock the phone using facial recognition. It won’t be necessary to hit the wake button first, either — as soon as you lift the phone to your face, the camera will activate and log you in, taking you straight to the home screen from sleep. You can also expect better battery life and a new warning from the camera app if one of your fingers has gotten into the field of view of the wide-angle lens on the back.

There won’t be quite as many color options on the G6 Plus, with LG narrowing it down to black, blue, and gold (their blue and gold options are new designs, and will come to the G6 as well).

It’s a bit of a surprise and a disappointment that LG wasn’t able to use the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC on the G6 Plus — the 821 is plenty powerful, but it does lack Qualcomm’s latest modem, which enables Gigabit LTE download speeds.

It’s also a raw deal for the LG faithful who already picked up a G6. The tweaks are slight, but the improved audio is awesome enough to generate some buyer’s remorse. Then again, the DAC will be an added drain on the battery, so if battery life is one of your top concerns, there might not be too much reason for disappointment.

If you’re a G6 owner feeling hard done by, you can see if a return is possible depending on where you got the phone from. Otherwise, you can always try to sell the phone online while the G6 still has decent resale value. You might want to hold off on doing either of those, though — LG hasn’t announced pricing or availability for the G6 Plus yet.